In today's computing environment, computer system components change dynamically via software distribution systems, such as, loading and unloading of applets via the Internet and other sources, and virtualization of resources, where processing capabilities are moved around based on available computer resources. Given that system environments can change often, system administrators may have a difficult time performing any required security and audit compliance validation and correction manually, especially with the level of accuracy required. As such, there is a need for administrators to effectively identify and analyze changes to a system for effectively performing any required security and audit compliance checks.